So, I had some leftover oven roasted tomatoes I’d made earlier this week so I used those but you could use some nice fresh ones too. Also, if you use fresh, throw in a clove or 4 of garlic, sliced thin.

1. Melt butter in skillet. Toss in onions and let them begin to sweat while you’re slicing the zucchini into the pan as well. Cover and let them steam/sweat for a few minutes. Do not slice the zucchini TOO thin or it’ll fall apart, and this dish is much better when you can bite INTO the zucchini.

2. While the veggies are cooking, slice up your steak. Also, put on a pot of water to boil for your pasta.

When veggies are tender (don’t let them get mushy), remove from skillet to a plate. Add pasta to boiling water.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

I will admit that this post is WAY late, but hey, better late than never!

I found the MOST amazing recipes just before the 4th of July holiday weekend, and decided to try them all. Here are my results, and of course, PLEASE visit the original sites to see their other amazing recipes as well :)

First up was this wonderfully fresh, wonderfully easy cucumber & tomato salad. It literally took me just minutes to put together, and it was SO delicious!

Now, of course, I did not know it was going to come out good enough to blog so I didn’t take pictures along the way LOL Isn’t that always the way?

Anyway, I originally found this recipe over at My Wooden Spoon but modified somewhat, so I thought I'd give you the modified recipe, and of course, a link to her recipe as well :)

Tomato & Cucumber Salad

First off, I halved the recipe because I'm the only one who likes this stuff so if you have a buncha folks who would like it, be sure to double :)

2 medium tomatoes quartered & then eighth'd?

1 medium cucumbers, sliced

1 onions, sliced and separated into rings

2 Tbsp. Vinegar (I used white)

1/4 c. Oil, I used Olive Oil (I believe I used canola, as I had no olive)

2 Tbsp. Sugar

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

2 tsp. minced parsley - although I used some fresh basil and dill out of my garden, along with some dried parsley I had in a jar.

First, slice, chop & dice to your heart's content. I left the tomatoes kind of big because in the past, my tomato salads wind up being mush. I don't like mushy tomatoes - so I went with bigger quarters. In a separate bowl, I whisked the vinegar, oil, sugar (making sure the sugar dissolved), and I left the salt & pepper for last.

Finally, I gently folded everything together with the dressing, put it in a sealed container in the fridge for about 2 hours or so and served it with lunch (recipes forthcoming) :) IT was AWESOME! Even my daughter ate some!